Externally, internally and the innermost - An illustration

This illustration is in line with concepts from the booklet “Some words from the inside, for those who are still in the temple and in the forecourts" by Karl von Eckartshausen.

Let us pay attention to that indication of position: "from the inside", and: "for those who are still in the temple and in the forecourts". That is: not in the innermost, but more towards the outer. Moreover, note that it is stated: “who are still in the temple and the forecourts”. Apparently that more outward position is meant to be temporary! External, internal and innermost exist as three circles around one center.

Let us draw on a sheet a curved and closed line, a circle. The circle divides the previously undivided sheet into two parts. For our normal consciousness, there can be - and will be – a choice between being inside and outside the circle. Who wants to stay outside? Presumably we all want to go inside. Why would we all want to go inside? This diagram reflects a number of social and psychological mechanisms: we like to join a group, we like to belong to a group. If we are ambitious, we even prefer to belong to the inner circle, the innermost circle. The inner circle around who or what?
Schematically there is a center in the circle - the innermost part. A point is dimensionless, is in fact immaterial.

We live, we are aware in three dimensions. On the horizontal plane of the paper, two dimensions cross at that centre point. And that point evokes the vertical axis that is perpendicular to the paper. These three lines, the three mutually perpendicular lines, have one point in common. That one common point is the crossing point, the passage between the dimensions. As such, it is like a three dimensional axis, like a source point or origin. And that point is the passage or gateway to the higher dimensions.

A person lives energetically through the whirling breathing of his or her chakras. In summary and schematically, we can imagine ourselves - a system of chakras - as a wheel on an axle. We are material. The axle is not material. We are in a rotating movement, a vortex. The axis is at rest with regard to rotation.

A chakra has a cup shape. If you look at a cup from above, you will see a circle around its center.

Let's make another abstraction. There is a clear form analogy between a tree, with its crown, trunk and root stump on the one hand, and a cup with chalice, stem and foot, on the other. The cup shape also indicates the movements that are present at the tree: capture in a receptive form facing upwards towards the light; narrowing towards the central axis of the figure, and concentrating there; then to transform and spread throughout the expanding foot in the darkness below. That is the inhalation movement.

The exhalation can be seen as follows: entering in at the foot of the cup means going up and, simultaneously, a process of transformation - the light descends, the being in transformation rises. This process unfolds in a tree, in a cup, in a chakra. The process-based transformation is also referred to by the term: transfiguration.

Karl von Eckartshausen describes the school of humanity as a movement of people through the outer, inner and innermost circles. Conversely, the light streams out from the center through the circles to the outer. If you make this flat image three-dimensional, you will also see it as if rising through the cup.
Eckartshausen gives us a number of rules for that movement; they can be read as cues for being part of a very special group.

External: First find the One in yourself, then the one outside of you, in nature. Finally, try to become one with the people and creatures that are around you, so that you become one with him who is the source of all things.

Internal: Be as simple as a child who does not know evil. Shut yourself off from all duality, including the split in yourself. Distance yourself from obstinacy, self-will and self-love. Let your heart and your mind always be focused on unity.

The innermost: Our heart, or our will, will search directly for the source of the light. This source is Jesus Christ. This light source is the strongest attractive power that attracts us as soon as we allow ourselves to be drawn.

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